Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

2013 Hyundai Santa Fe

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2013-...e-first-drive/

This may sound strange, but bear with us – there is indeed a point to this little exercise. Okay, ready? We'd like you to close your eyes and imagine a crossover. Any modern crossover is fine.

Done? Good. Recall what you saw in your mind's eye. What did it look like? Did it have a somewhat aggressive shape – an upright greenhouse, pronounced wheel wells with some type of body cladding, a bold grille up front bracketed by large headlamps and hulking bodysides with a bit of visual flair provided by creases or rising shoulder lines? Did it sit jacked up a tad on oversized alloy wheels, distancing itself from any thoughts of mere station wagons? Yep, that was a crossover all right.

Point being, there isn't all that much to differentiate today's crop of car-based utility vehicles, at least when it comes to visuals and overall impressions, which means, to use a somewhat tired phrase, the devil is in the details. Clearly, what makes a family choose one over another has a lot to do with their individual wants and needs, and each automaker is building a vehicle (or two, or three) designed to appeal to these masses, but with ever-so-slightly differing formulas.

It was with all these thoughts swirling through our minds that we accepted an invitation to drive the new three-row 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe in San Diego, California for a full day of highways, twisty roads and ocean breezes. We were rewarded mostly with confirmation of our preconceived notions, but also with a few genuinely surprising details designed to attract the eyes and wallets of buyers all across North America.


A quick walkaround confirms that Hyundai hasn't strayed too far from the typical – and wildly successful – crossover formula. That said, this model's style sits in between the automaker's so-called Fluidic Sculpture and Fluidic Precision design language, and it looks awfully good on the Santa Fe. We are reminded that Hyundai North America CEO John Krafcik not too long ago told us to expect a bit more maturity from the automaker's swoopy themes, and we can see how it applies on this three-row 'ute. We can also see lots of carryover design highlights from the Santa Fe Sport, the five-passenger version of the family.

Up front, Hyundai added a fourth chrome bar in the grille (compared to the Sport's three) and altered the shape of the driving lights at the bottom of the fascia. The sides of the Santa Fe are heavily sculpted, as is Hyundai's recent tradition, with an upward swing in the shoulder lending a stylish look that does impede a bit on the airiness of the cockpit. Oh, and there is indeed the requisite body cladding at the bottom and over the wheel arches. There's not a whole lot to see at the rear, other than the standard dual exhaust tips and the power tailgate, with large light clusters stretching from the car's rear flanks across the liftgate.

It may go without saying, but we'll say it anyway: The Santa Fe sure looks a heck of a lot more stylish than the outgoing seven-passenger Veracruz, the model that this ostensibly replaces, albeit at a more affordable price point.


It's a similar story inside, as the 2013 Santa Fe exudes a modern look and feel with plastic and rubber bits that seem to be of reasonably good quality. All the surfaces your body will touch are soft, though it's not very difficult to find harder bits where Hyundai doesn't think you'll notice. Plus, there are at least five different finishes inside, including various grades and shades of plastic, leather and wood, along with some pieces that sport a metallic sheen. While all of them are fine in and of themselves, together they are a bit much. All in all, though, the interior is a pleasant place to be, and it looks and feels more upscale than its pricing would otherwise indicate.

Hyundai has included a good amount of technology inside the Santa Fe as well, with BlueLink coming standard and a year's worth of complimentary service. BlueLink includes voice text messaging, point-of-interest search capability and turn-by-turn navigation, plus extras like restaurant ratings and weather information. Users will also get monthly updates on the status of their vehicles. For added convenience, the system can remotely lock or unlock the car, remotely start its engine and alert the owner if the car's alarm goes off.

An eight-inch multifunction display in the middle of the dash is optional. Hyundai boasts that this is the third generation of its user interface, and it includes voice activation. If you don't opt for the display, you'll get a much smaller 4.3-inch touchscreen unit that looks out of place considering that the dash is obviously designed for the larger unit. Sadly, you'll need to pony up $4,000 to get the Leather and Navigation Package on the GLS model or $2,900 for the Technology Package on the Limited to get the large screen. Not cool.


While on the subject of GLS versus Limited Santa Fe trim levels, the less-expensive GLS boasts standard seven-passenger capability. The Limited, on the other hand, comes with bucket seats in the second row, reducing total passenger capability to six and adding standard leather seating surfaces. It's not possible to get the bucket seats on the GLS or the second-row bench on the Limited. Hyundai is clearly playing the option sheet odds here, but again, not cool.

While we're not fans of being locked into six- or seven-passenger configurations based on the trim level we choose and its attendant cloth or leather seating surfaces, either way, the third row is a fairly pleasant place for passengers. Kudos to Hyundai for giving the far-back seaters their own control panel for heating and ventilation, going so far as to include a separate compressor for the third row. We also like the well-placed vents for the way-back passengers and the built-in cubbies and cupholders. Nicely done. Second-row passengers also make out with the Santa Fe – compared to the Santa Fe Sport, the extended model picks up 1.9 inches of second-row legroom.

Desirable features including heated front and rear seats and steering wheel are optional. If cloth is selected, Hyundai uses stain-resistant YES Essentials fabric standard. A 12-speaker surround-sound audio system from Infinity can be ordered on Limited models, while Bluetooth connectivity joins the expected AM/FM/CD/HD/SiriusXM/MP3 capabilities as standard equipment across the board.


Assuming you've got a full load of passengers and their assorted... stuff, you'll appreciate the standard 3.3-liter V6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission. This unit is impressive, offering up 290 horsepower and 252 pound-feet of torque. Compared to its rivals, those are very good figures. For instance, the 3.5-liter V6 in the Toyota Highlander offers up 270 hp and 248 lb-ft, the Nissan Pathfinder features a 3.5L with 260 horses and 240 lb-ft, and the Honda Pilot's 3.5-liter engine is rated at 250 hp and 253 lb-ft. Note that the Hyundai makes more power with less displacement, in no small part due to its direct injection gasoline delivery.

Even better, the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe weighs 3,933 pounds. That means each of the engine's horses is hauling 13.6 pounds. For comparison, the Highlander's 4,045 pounds put 15 on each of its horsepower, the Pilot is saddled with 17.2 pounds per horsepower due to its heavy 4,306-pound weight and the Pathfinder's V6 moves 16 of its 4,149 pounds with each horse underhood. Less weight and more power, folks, is the best of both worlds.

Kudos to Hyundai for the Santa Fe's impressive weight loss. To wit, not only is the new CUV lighter than its direct peers, it's also a whopping 333 pounds lighter than the old seven-passenger Veracruz. The diet is due mostly to the increased use of high-strength steel, which also improves rigidity.


We should note that the V6 engine is the only unit offered at launch, though Hyundai hints that it wouldn't be a problem to outfit the Santa Fe with its excellent turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 264 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque. That engine can be found under the hood of the five-passenger Santa Fe Sport, and it moves that crossover with authority. We think it'd work just fine with the added mass of the larger seven-passenger model, too.

Fuel mileage is competitive for its segment, with the 2013 Santa Fe earning EPA-estimated ratings of 18 city, 25 highway and 21 combined. The Nissan Pathfinder is the only vehicle with appreciatively better efficiency, with ratings of 20/26 and 22 combined, likely due in large part to its use of a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), for better or for worse. Hyundai also offers a button to put the Santa Fe in Eco Mode, which it says will improve fuel efficiency by around five percent, but also feels like it reduces power output by at least twice that.

Hyundai also points out that the Santa Fe can tow 5,000 pounds, which equals or betters all of its main unibody rivals. This is an important factor for many buyers, and it could bring new customers to the Hyundai brand – the previous Santa Fe and Veracruz models offered max ratings of 3,500 pounds.


All-wheel drive is also optional on the Santa Fe in either GLS or Limited trim levels. As with the Santa Fe Sport, the system is outfitted with Active Cornering Control, torque vectoring and active braking. Torque can be routed to whichever wheel has the most traction, and each wheel can also be independently braked. All of these technologies are meant to keep the Santa Fe under control no matter what surface you're driving on. While we weren't able to drive the Santa Fe in any real situations where all-wheel-drive traction would be beneficial, or even back-to-back with front-wheel-drive models, our past flings with the Santa Fe Sport and 2013 Kia Sorento, which uses a similar system, lead us to believe the high-tech system will work as Hyundai claims.

What we were able to verify, and rather frequently at that, was the prowess of Hyundai's direct-injected 3.3-liter V6 engine. As its spec sheet implies, those 290 horses move the Santa Fe along very smartly. We can't imagine any buyers will be disappointed by this crossover's strong acceleration, and Hyundai's six-speed automatic shifts gears with nary a hitch. We tested the manual mode, which is engaged by slapping the gearshift horizontally, and... well, it works – gears can be manually held for those few occasions where such things are desirable, like when descending down long slopes. The vast majority of the time, though, leaving the shifter in D works just fine.

Similarly, handling is likely to please the Santa Fe's intended customer base. The crossover rides well, with a firm feel that turns compliant enough to absorb large impacts from its MacPherson struts up front and a compact multi-link independent setup at the rear. Depending on trim, the crossover wears alloy wheels measuring either 18 or 19 inches in diameter, and we didn't notice any real difference in ride comfort or handling prowess between the two.


Hyundai has included its Driver-Selectable Steering Modes technology with the latest Santa Fe. Using a button on the steering wheel, the driver can choose between Comfort, Normal and Sport modes. As alluded to in our First Drive of the five-passenger Santa Fe Sport, Sport mode is mostly superfluous in this application, as it doesn't improve steering feel over Normal mode. Instead, the steering just feels artificially stiffened, as if the gears were now rotating through thicker oil. In any case, you shouldn't expect much feedback from the wheel, so our advice is to forget the switch altogether and leave the steering in Normal.

What we most appreciated about the 2013 Santa Fe is that it didn't seem to suffer from its enhanced capacity compared to its smaller sibling. Despite its four-inch increase in wheelbase and 8.5-inch rear overhang extension, the seven-passenger Santa Fe drives pretty much the same as the five-passenger Santa Fe. And that's a good thing.

The one place where you'll see and feel the difference between the Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Sport is in your wallet. While the five-passenger model starts at $24,450 (albeit with a four-cylinder engine), the upsized seven-passenger Santa Fe starts at $28,350 in GLS trim and $33,100 in six-passenger Limited trim. All-wheel drive adds $1,750 to the bottom line on either trim, and don't forget to tack on $845 for delivery.


Whether or not the extra expenditure for the Santa Fe versus the Santa Fe Sport is worth it will come down to the buyer's needs, both real and perceived. As Krafcik himself pointed out to us before our drive, many purchase decisions in this segment are influenced by trips that the buyer may plan on taking just once or twice a year. How useful that extra cargo capacity and third row of seats is the other 50 weeks of the year may or may not even matter, but when it does, we're sure buyers will be happy to have it available. The same can likely be said for all-wheel drive – those living in areas pummeled each year by heavy snow and those who live at the end of a mile-long driveway of dirt, mud and stone will be happy to pay for the extra traction, while the rest of us can save some cash and miles per gallon by accepting the standard front-wheel-drive configuration.

Those of you who fit into the so-called "active lifestyle" bucket so coveted by every automaker should know that Hyundai has got a pretty appealing crossover for you to consider. While many in the industry wonder why the minivan is losing sales momentum year after year – not to mention the time-honored station wagon – consumers have spoken loud and clear with their hard-earned dollars: Crossovers are here to stay. And now, we're happy to report that there's another legitimate contender for those dollars in this ever-important segment of the automotive market.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/18/2...-drive-review/

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Overall a nice package. The silhouette reminds me of a Subaru Tribeca.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2013-...photo-5820196/

My wife and I are holdouts among our friends and family in the offspring department. Our heir-free lifestyle, however, affords us the opportunity to travel this great land, and road trips are our favorite. So while I'm unqualified to remark on how well the new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport will swallow an infant son and stroller, I can pass judgment on this two-row crossover's talents for carrying people and cargo over great distances.

The lady and I recently drove a new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport to one of this country's national treasures: the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The Biltmore was built between 1889 and 1895 by George Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt who was one of this country's earliest captains of industry. Despite the Biltmore being the largest privately owned home in the United States, which it remains to this day with a footprint of 178,926 square feet, George and his wife, Edith, only ever had one child. A family of two parents plus one child would have made the Vanderbilts exactly the type of people Hyundai hopes to attract with this two-row Santa Fe Sport – George's eldest brother, Cornelius II, had seven children and would've had better luck fitting his brood in the larger three-row Santa Fe (sans the "Sport" suffix).

Like George, the all-new Santa Fe Sport is now the youngest in a large family of redesigned Hyundais that have been pushing the Korean brand's sales ever higher. Being last in a line of overachievers has its advantages, as this new Santa Fe Sport comes to market with the brand's latest design, technology and safety features, all of which it needs to compete in a midsize crossover segment that is more crowded and competitive than perhaps any other.


Being the last vehicle to benefit from Hyundai's product renaissance, the Santa Fe Sport gets to be the first to wear the next-generation styling language, dubbed "Fluidic Precision." Glimpse a Santa Fe Sport among its kin at the dealership and it's indeed obvious that one of these things is not like the others. With a more upright hexagonal grille and tauter skin stretched tight around a bigger frame, the Santa Fe Sport has taken a clear step away from the draped and flowing lines of the Sonata and Elantra.

When we look at the new Santa Fe Sport, we see a design that reminds us of something like a more-attractive Subaru Tribeca, or perhaps a next-generation Chevrolet Trailblazer that never was. It's masculine without being a wannabe Jeep, and attractive without trying too hard to be stylish. Hyundai designers deserve kudos for their restrained use of bright, chrome-like trim in the grille, around the side windows and on door handles, which is balanced by a band of flat black trim that entirely encircles the bottom of the vehicle, thereby reducing its visual height. The black trim also blends nicely with the Santa Fe Sport's 17-inch alloy wheels finished in a dark metallic grey color.


The new look, however, is an even bigger departure from the last-generation Santa Fe, and while your eyes might tell you that the 2013 model is larger in every way than the old, they'd be lying. The two are actually very similar in dimension, with both sharing a 106.3-inch wheelbase and the new Santa Fe Sport growing in length by half an inch (184.6) and shrinking in width by 0.4 inches (74). The biggest disparity between the two is height, where the new Santa Fe Sport's pencil line on the wall is located at 66.1 inches, or 1.8 inches below the old model's. While similar in size, Hyundai has managed to minus some 266 pounds from the prior Santa Fe to achieve a svelte, new fighting weight of 3,459 pounds.

After visiting the Biltmore House, we can't say the Santa Fe Sport's interior shares the home's penchant for the finest interior furnishings. Whereas this North Carolina home is built with the finest wood, stone, metal and materials, and then decorated inside with works of art and furniture that a museum curator would kill for, the inner dwelling of this particular Santa Fe Sport was comparatively spartan. A front-wheel-drive model with the base engine, our tester was not a top-tier trim, though we can't say we missed the two-tone leather interior or faux wood trim that would've come at a higher price. Ours was by no means base, however, equipped with a number of options packages like the $2,950 Leather and Premium Equipment Package, which in addition to the hides came with a sliding and reclining second row of heated seats, dual zone temperature control and a rearview camera, and the $2,700 Technology Package that added a navigation system with eight-inch touchscreen, panoramic sunroof, a heated steering wheel and sunshades for the rear side windows.


Technology is an area where you would, of course, expect the Santa Fe Sport to stand apart from anything available in the late 19th century when the Biltmore House was built. In fact, it stands near the head of today's competitive class with an impressive raft of safety and infotainment tech. There are enough electronic control systems for the sake of stability, traction and braking that we're certain the Santa Fe Sport will never need a team of oxen to extricate it from anything. If something were to get this crossover out of sorts, you've got Hyundai BlueLink to recognize you've encountered a spot of trouble and call for help. What's more, in a time when infotainment systems are becoming increasingly complex and over-styled, we appreciate this latest generation of Hyundai's system. It's got all of the functions that a good current-generation system should have (easy-to-establish Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity, voice commands, traffic information and more) without any of the ergonomic and latency issues of next-gen systems like MyFord Touch and CUE from Cadillac.

All that said, the Biltmore House is no backwards relic. At a time when most Southern rural homes in America were not much more than four walls and a roof, this 1895 home offered running hot and cold water in all of its 43 bathrooms, five refrigeration units including a 10x13-foot walk-in fridge, full central heating and wiring for both DC and AC electricity (they were both so new, no one knew which form of electricity would become the standard, so they installed both). That all partly explains why estimates put the cost to build the house in 1895 dollars at around $10,000,000. Adjusted for inflation, that's nearly $275,000,000 in today's money, or more than twice what the current most expensive home for sale in the country costs.


The Vanderbilts were also car owners, having been introduced to the activity of "motoring" during their travels in Europe. In a letter to a friend from across the pond, George wrote, "I am so in love with this mode of travel that I mean to order an auto like yours... It makes traveling... a natural transition instead of an effort." And he did order some autos, but only one survives, a 1913 Stevens-Duryea Model "C-Six," equipped with a new-for-that-year set of electric lights and starter. With a set of extra seat covers and tires, the car cost George all of $5,046.90, or about the same price as a brand new 1985 Hyundai Excel. Our modern day Santa Fe Sport with front-wheel drive and the base 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine began with a base price of $24,450 and ended with an as-tested charge of $32,175 (including an $825 destination fee). George's taste for the finer things wins out, though, as his Stevens-Duryea would cost over $115,000 today, and being one of only ten known to exist still, is probably worth a lot more.

While George's Stevens-Duryea is powered by a 48-horsepower six-cylinder engine, our Santa Fe Sport has a much more modern 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder engine that produces 190 hp and 181 pound-feet of torque. With the aid of direct injection and a perfectly competent six-speed automatic transmission, this mill does a lot with a little and transported the wife, myself and our traveling trunks without complaint. There is a 264-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged engine available, but the Santa Fe Sport's base price will rise over $3,000 for the honor. Even with that premium, we recommend people in a family way consider the more powerful motor. The Santa Fe Sport can carry a lot of cargo – 35.4 cubic feet behind the second row and 71.5 behind the first, plus a deep well of storage beneath the rear cargo floor – and when filled with the support gear for transferring children hither and dither, would likely be taxing the base engine beyond your comfort zone. If you're considering the optional all-wheel drive, we'd recommend the turbo motor regardless to help keep the two extra wheels and their running gear moving.


Still, 190 horsepower was enough to keep our small traveling party comfortably moving down Interstate 77 towards Asheville, NC. While Hyundai does include an Active Eco function that modifies the engine and transmission's behavior for increased fuel economy, the gains did not seem a fair price to pay for what felt like a 10 percent drop in power, which this already burdened motor does not have to spare. Even without Active Eco engaged, our observed fuel economy was better than expected in the 26-27 mile per gallon range. Our route was as combined as they come, with hours of mpg-boosting highway travel split by fuel-sapping city miles among the hills of North Carolina.

The name "Santa Fe Sport," however, is a bit of a misnomer, as handling isn't really this vehicle's forte. Its moves place it more toward the minivan end of the spectrum than anything approaching a car or even firmly sprung sport utility vehicle. A name like "Santa Fe Cozy" would be more accurate, and that's not a dig. The ride is right down the middle between smooth and composed, neither feeling floaty nor so isolating that you can't tell what type of pavement you're on – perfect for enduring eight hours of driving in a single day.


Hyundai's Driver Selectable Steering Modes (DSSM) also helped ease the strain of such lengthy travel, but not how we were expecting. With the switch over to electronically assisted steering, Hyundai has begun offering DSSM on some of its new vehicles. Three modes are available – Normal, Sport and Comfort – and based on their names, we thought Comfort would be our choice for the hours of highway driving ahead of us. We were very wrong, as Comfort mode requires the least effort to steer, thus creating a situation where the vehicle wanders all over the highway and requires constant correction to maintain a straight path. We decided to check the manual at the next rest stop and discovered some more misnomers in the description of each mode.

Steering Mode COMFORT – The steering wheel becomes lighter. The comfort mode is usually used when driving in downtown or parking the vehicle. Also, the comfort mode helps weak people to drive easily.
Steering Mode SPORT – The steering wheel becomes heavier. The sport mode is usually used when driving in highway.
Steering Mode NORMAL – The normal mode offers medium steering effort.

So Comfort mode is for weak people and Sport mode is for driving in a straight line on the highway – got it. Truly, Sport mode was ideally suited to the task of interstate travel, requiring so much effort to steer off center that a single finger could keep it pointed straight. Still, "sport" isn't the word we'd use to describe it, though "stiff" might work, and Comfort mode is anything but comfortable to use. Best to keep the system set to Normal mode during everyday use and save Sport for those straight-line, long-distance shots.

At the end of our long drive home, my wife and I came to the rare conclusion that this is exactly the Santa Fe Sport we would order: sans AWD with the smaller engine, yet loaded up with comfort, luxury and infotainment options. Many vehicles I test come with no options left to check on the order sheet, their final cost bloated far above their starting prices. This particular Santa Fe Sport, however, was like a bowl of porridge at just right the temperature for us. Would it have been the same way for George, Edith and their only child, Cornelia?


The answer is likely no. While the Santa Fe Sport would surely have served their 2+1 needs well, the culture of their time would dictate that the Vanderbilt family buy only the best, most expensive product available. In terms of fame and fortune, if there's a modern equivalent to the Vanderbilts, it's the Kardashians, and can you imagine Kim and Kanye with their newborn celebrity baby in a Hyundai? Me neither. It'd be a Mercedes G63 AMG all the way.

Most of us, however, are neither Vanderbilts nor Kardashians, and while it's great fun to visit their world while on vacation and witness the scope of what unimaginable wealth can procure and create, at the end of day we get in vehicles like the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and drive home. What we liked most about this new Santa Fe Sport, though, is that its attractive new look, bevy of features and accessible utility made us feel just a little richer than we really are.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/18/2...-sport-review/